Beach Boys 1968 - "I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions" and "Wake The World: The Friends Sessions"*

It’s my upload! I think a part got taken down actually...?

 

Is that available on alternate sources?

 

Perhaps, but I thought the "misses" on those earlier post-Sunflower albums were still interesting and worthwhile in their own right. For me that stopped after Love You.

 

Actually, that was prior to MIU...1976, according to what Ron Altbach has told me.

 

The two camps or "teams" at that time were Mike-Al on one side, and Dennis-Carl on the other. Brian was caught in the middle, usually giving his tie-breaker vote to Mike. They traveled on separate planes, but only the Dennis-Carl plan was "coke-filled"...the existence of two camps came down to lifestyle choices: the Mike-Al team was dubbed "the meditators", while the Dennis-Carl team was known as "the free-livers".

 

Well, Dennis isn't actually on the album at all (except for his picture on the cover and inner sleeve, and maybe the drum part on the then 10-year old "When Girls Get Together"). He came down to the studio a couple of times, but was either too messed up to play the drums, or too disinterested in what the group had to offer, or both. His 1969 outtake "San Miguel" (with a great Carl lead vocal) was considered for inclusion, but in the end it was held off for almost another two years, finally seeing release on the Ten Years Harmony comp at the end of '81.

 

, I think that it was more than "Hit Singles" that the band needed. And anyway, Brian was hardly a hit maker at that point. I think that at that stage of their career, that the band was so divided that only the prospect of a functioning Brian at the production helm could have imaginably delivered a good album, by forging the different talents and sensibilities of the band into a cohesive whole. They were just too different.

To tie this topic back to the thread topic, you can see the difference between Brian at the helm (Wake the World) and the group without a captain. Wake the World/Friends is a collaborative effort with Brian firmly at the helm: and it all sounds like it's coming from the same mind, (even the Dennis songs); similar styles, similar arrangements, similar feeling. 20/20 is all over the place but somehow works, but it sounds like a hodge podge (in a way Sunflower Surf's Up and Holland) miraculously does not: I credit Carl and Steve Desper for the former.

I think some of the collaborative efforts in the early seventies had that, with Carl at the helm...but by the late seventies Carl and Brian and Dennis had all sort of relinquished their responsibilities and the unbalance in the band was not helping. I feel that Al, Mike and Bruce, for all their talents just couldn't hold it together. It seems that Bruce kind of was on the right track with LA (Light Album) but then there are also some odd choices that screw it up. (Disco, Shortenin' Bread, which was better in the original form.)

 

He played percussion on "Endless Harmony", I thought? (not Drums.)

I can't quote a source: it was probably you.

 

Well, that's what we used to think, 'cause his name's on an AFM contract that lists both that song and the then-unreleased "Goin' To The Beach". But, after discussing this rather extensively with one of the session's participants, and further extensively studying both the AFM contract and additional documentation from the record company's files, I've come to the conclusion that multiple sessions were lumped together on one AFM contract. In reality, it seems Dennis came down to the studio to hear the tracks they were working on, made a half-hearted attempt to add drums to "Goin' To The Beach" (for which the basic track already existed) but then gave up and left. His name was then added to the AFM sheet so that he could be paid for his "troubles". All of this happened during a period when Dennis was more or less "estranged" from the group (although he did briefly return to play a couple of shows with them around this time).

 

I believe the only song Dennis is on, is School Days

 

Ah, thanks. I always thought it was odd that he'd play a little additional percussion on Endless Harmony for some reason.

 

Really? Based on the promo video, I always had the impression it was from late 77/early 78

 

Nope, he's not on that. Hal Blaine drummed on that one (despite not receiving a credit on the inner sleeve), and all the vocals are Brian-Carl-Mike-Al-Bruce.

 

I would've too, but he told me it was definitely '76, recorded at Brother Studios. I hear elements of it in the final production, although the speed is different.

 

Great info on this thread!

 

Always nice to learn something new.

 

I’ve gotten these download/streaming-only releases on iTunes each year since Big Beat 1963, except last year’s Live Sunshine. I was starting to get disappointed that lossless (sometimes 24/88.2, sometimes 16/44.1) would later come out and maybe I jumped the gun on iTunes.

I signed up for Amazon Unlimited streaming for a 99-cent three month trial, thinking I could stream the voluminous and expensive live stuff. Overall, I found the Amazon Music app clumsy, and like the Apple Music app (what iTunes has become, and to which I don’t subscribe) it would restart and I’d lose my place and forget which I’d already listened to.

Meanwhile, I got some iTunes gift cards and also saw $100 for $80 cards for sale. Guess what I did? Bought Live Sunshine and all three 1968 titles, burned them to CD, labeled the discs with a Sharpie, and have been cranking them on my system and reading the ESQ back issues. No worries about lossless (they sound great) or no physical media. The gift card savings more than made up for my reluctance. I can’t wait for the Sunflower era!

 

San Miguel is such an awesome song - can't believe they just left that off whatever album they were working on at that time. Dennis tracks for the Beach Boys are pretty much all great. Little Bird? Count me in. Be Still? Great track. Forever? Love it. But for some reason his solo album has never really clicked with me, except for River Song. Ofcourse I have it in the collection though

 

I asked this earlier but didn't see any follow-up, but will this 'series' continue in to the Sunflower (and beyond) era? The Sea of Tunes catalog is owned by Irving/Almo, but beginning with Sunflower it's owned by Brother Publishing. Will Brother continue on in the same/similar format in these copyright releases?

 

Yes

 

There were a lot of politics and internal battles within The Beach Boys camp, particularly as the 1970's progressed, and that certainly which played a part in the band's approach to making albums. Dennis clearly was delivering quite a bit of high quality material during the decade, yet it was almost begrudgingly included on some albums. In addition to financial considerations (publishing), I suspect there was envy, jealously, and a hesitation to give Dennis too much creative influence. That said, I do not think Dennis was prolific enough or reliable enough to take on the burden of supplying considerable music to the band. Still, the band should have dipped into the Dennis Wilson songbook more often than they did during the second half of the decade.

 

Thanks. I thought he was on that 3 day session where Brian actually got hot but really didn't yield much. Most of the drumming I believe is Scott Mathews

 

So anyway, back to talking about the thread subject. Does anyone know if the Japanese Pastmasters CD of Friends has the full ending of Transendental Meditation or is it faded out like on every other version?

 

I was actually a bit surprised that there wasn't a new mix of the "country version" with the vocals flown in from the previously released take. Can't complain because it is such a good set. I wouldn't be surprised if it pops up somewhere in the future (hoping at least.)

 

You are close...he wasn't at that those 2 days worth of sessions at Western in July (where Brian produced 4 backing tracks, only one of which - "School Days" - was used), but he WAS present for the first day of recording in October (also at Western, before the sessions moved to Rumbo). Gary Mallaber was also employed to drum, and a version of "Johnny B. Goode" was attempted. The following day, they cut "Oh Darling", but Dennis didn't make it to that session or the subsequent ones. Besides Mallaber, other drummers appearing on the album are Ricky Fataar, Steve Forman, and as you said, Scott Matthews (it's him drumming on the outtake "Goin' To The Beach", too).